Reviewed by Carissa

TITLE:  The Pillar

AUTHOR:  Kim Fielding

PUBLISHER:  Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH:  144 pages

BLURB:  

During his youth, orphaned thief Faris was flogged at the pillar in the town square and left to die. But a kind old man saved him, gave him a home, and taught him a profession. Now Faris is the herbalist for the town of Zidar, taking care of the injured and ill. He remains lonely, haunted by his past, and insecure about how his community views him. One night, despite his reluctance, he saves a dying slave from the pillar.

A former soldier, Boro has spent the last decade as a brutalized slave. Herbs and ointment can heal his physical wounds, but both men carry scars that run deep. Bound by the constraints of law and social class in 15th century Bosnia, Faris and Boro must overcome powerful enemies to protect the fragile happiness they’ve found.

REVIEW:  

He’d always been ashamed of his scars. They were like brands, visible and tangible reminders of what he was. But as he gazed at Boro, he realized that scars might also be badges of honor. Scars might say to the world, Look what was done to me. And yet I am strong—I survived.

Faris didn’t yet feel that strength within himself, but someday he might.

Faris swore he would never take another man from the pillar. His heart, his soul, couldn’t take it anymore. But his town, his friends, seemed believe otherwise. So despite all his protestations, Faris finds himself in the courtyard, staring at a man beaten and whipped, only a few short hours from death. Unable to walk away, Faris cuts him down, takes him home, and does his best to save him.

Faris knows what it is like to find yourself on the pillar.  The pain, the humiliation, the hopelessness.  But he also knows what it is like to be taken from the pillar.  To be cleaned and cared for.  To be given a new chance, and new family of sorts.  But some part of him still feels attached to that pillar. Still the young thief, unworthy of anything but a long death. And so he finds himself hesitant to accept the offer in Boro’s eyes and hands, afraid that the invitation is only given in payment for cutting the man down.

For what does a slave and a healer, a thief and a killer, have in common?

This has to be my favorite of Kim Fielding’s books. And believe you me that is a rather tough race to win. There was just something about the way that this story flowed, about how it teetered so finely between hope and despair, that I loved.

I don’t normally read historicals set in the 15th century. Hell, I rarely even step out of 19th century England. But Fielding rarely leads me wrong, so I thought I would give this book a chance. I figured, who knows, maybe something different will be just the thing I have been craving of late. And it really really was. I may not know much about the time or land this takes place in, but it is written in a way that that doesn’t matter. Fielding paints the picture perfectly, giving enough that is familiar so that I didn’t feel lost, but filled the story with people and places that made this something beautifully exotic. And real.

There was also a lot of coffee going on in this book.  A lot of coffee going on everywhere, my house included, because…well, because I am an addict and you can’t spend that much time talking about wonderful, bitter coffee and not expect me to drink nearly three cups of it as I read the story.  (This may have also indirectly led to my 3am pancake making, but that is actually pretty normal around here.)

Faris and Boro were more than I thought they’d be. Faris, despite it being years since his mentor removed him from the pillar, still believes–at least partly–that he’s still the boy who was strung up there.  His scars, his pain, may be hidden from the world, but they still sit heavy on him.  Some part of him is always going to feel just a breath away from losing it all over again. But he is also a man who has dedicated his life to helping others. To continuing the work of the man he came to love as a father. He has a strength that kept him thru his time on the street, his almost death at the pillar, and his life as the healer of a town that almost was the death of him.

And Boro…god, I loved how he could be afraid and certain almost at the same time.  He has lost everything. Family, friends, his past, his freedom.  He has been beaten and nearly broken in every way imaginable.  And yet he never really lost track of who he was.  He is the one that gives Faris strength to take what he wants, even as Faris is the one to help heal the wounds that are so much further than skin deep.

The way the tension in this book was written, is by far my favorite part.  Everything is so happy, everything is coming together like it should, and yet you can’t help but feel a sinking dread that something is coming.  You don’t really know what it is till it comes pounding on their door, but you can feel it haunting the edges of the story. Because nothing is ever this easy in storyland.  But when it happens, when their perfect bubble is popped, it doesn’t feel…forced, I guess. It slides into it so naturally that you realize that this horrible tension has been building for quite some time. And as it plays out, it hovers closer and closer to disaster and you don’t know where the turn will be.  Don’t know how many tears you are going to have to shed before it ends.  And there were tears–for me at least.

This book wrapped me up in so many different, wonderful ways.  The characters’ struggles, both with their past and their present, made this more than just a story. They were real. For the brief moment in time in which they existed in my head, they were real and I didn’t want them to hurt…even if I wanted to see their pain.  I loved the historical aspect, as well.  And the coffee (did I mention my slight addiction?).  For all that this was only novella length, it packed quite a punch. The love, the hurt, the joy, the regret–it was all felt and felt quite deeply by both them and me.

RATING:  

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